“Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world.” ~ Nicola Tesla

The title of my blog post was Is Yoga a Religion or Cult? The body of the article answered this question yet in the approximately 20 places I posted; only one person actually read the message and responded within the context of the missive.

On the other hand, eleven people replied to the question, Is Yoga a Religion or Cult without reading the content of the blog’s message. Their answers lead the conversation over to their preferred arena; a particular website or educating me about yoga.

While I am always open to new information, it was clear from their remarks that they did not know the extent of my 30+ year yoga training. It was simply an opportunity for them to “teach” and apparently they “needed” to teach. Some call it pontificating, I call it pouncing. The ancient’s called these reactionary tendencies to blindly respond, samskaras.

Samskaras are simply a reaction waiting to happen; an auto-pilot. Samskaras are our tendency to interpret information in a certain way or look at a particular view of the whole while the ego locks on to a small facet and launches a reaction. Unchecked these behavioral loops of bias repeat and behaviors become more entrenched. Oh, and by the way, we all have samskaras and most are hidden from view; blind spots.

Sometimes, after much thrashing about, Stress Management Programs like yoga catch our eye and we begin to consider what it would be like to perceive the world with a new lens and respond in a different, non-habitual way.

Yogic Stress Management tools of cultivating awareness, breathing practices, and self-reflection help us de-magnetize the power of our samskaras/tendencies.

The first step in pulling away from samskaras is gaining awareness of these habitual responses. This in my opinion is nothing short of a miracle. Often people get to this place after they have tried over and over again to see their blind spots but they miss what they can’t see. They are able to consider the edges of their periphery but their blind spots are…blind.

Yogic practices to cultivate awareness include but are not limited to: Meditation, Yoga Nidra, Pranayama, and Life Alignment Coaching. Each of these programs teaches you how to slow down, take pause and become more aware.

When you take a moment to pause and notice the desire to pounce, check in with yourself and ask, “Have I missed, skipped or ignored something?” or “Am I looking at this situation, person or event with fresh new eyes or dull biased ones?” and “It may be or feel unfamiliar, but I am going to do my best to respond differently to this situation, right now.”

Please enjoy one of my favorite quotes:“Thoughts can create such a barrier that even if you are standing before a beautiful flower, you will not be able to see it. Your eyes are covered with layers of thought. To experience the beauty of the flower you have to be in a state of meditation, not in a state of ‘mentation’. You have to be silent, utterly silent, not even a flicker of thought – and the beauty explodes, reaches to you from all directions. You are drowned in the beauty of a sunrise, of a starry night, of beautiful trees.” ~ Yogic Wisdom

My thanks to the eleven people who “needed” to teach me about yoga as a result of my previous blog. It provided us with a worthy topic for discussion. For those of you who missed the original article, here it is: Is Yoga a Religion or Cult?

Please share your thoughts on this topic. It is so lovely when people respond from their own experience in a conscious way.

“Yoga is a holistic approach to health and balance. It is not associated with any religion although it is spiritual; the practice connects us with our highest and most lighthearted state.

Meditation techniques have been used in many religious traditions: Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc. The tools used in a yoga practice include every area of one’s life including healthy food choices, reverence for the Divine, flexibility in mind and body and deep connection to the breath. When all areas of our lives are in balance we tend to be truly happy, healthy and more loving to ourselves and others.” ~ SKW

“I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist or a Jew.

The truth has shared so much of Itself with me that I can no longer call myself a man, a woman, and angel or even pure Soul.

Love has befriended Hafiz so completely. It has turned to ash and freed me of every concept and image my mind has ever known.” ~ Hafiz

Professional Life Coach and advanced Yoga teacher Stacy Kamala Waltman will lead you on this journey, using visualization, asana, various concentration and meditation techniques, and her expert insights and skilled guidance.

Kamala has been studying yoga for over 30 years and is RYT500 certified. For more information and to register, please visit: Yogaville Workshops.

“Yoga, in its full spectrum approach to balance and health on all levels utilizes the body, breath, mind, and subtle energetic systems in a synergistic whole.

Yoga is not just physical; it is an ethical, conscious, aware and holistic approach to life. The Sanskrit word, yoga literally means yoke or union so when yoga neophytes say, “Do more Yoga!” That’s like saying, “Do more union!” We don’t DO yoga. We are either in yoga or we are not. We are either balanced or we are unbalanced.

Instead of doing more yoga, be in yoga. Do more asana or meditation practice. Actually treat your Self to the bliss of yoga nidra rather than just thinking about it and by all means expand your study of what yoga is in all of its fullness.

True yoga transforms how the mind, breath, body and emotions respond to stress in an interconnected dynamic.

Just as the body can learn a new standing posture that eventually becomes ingrained, so the mind can learn new thought patterns and ways of shifting awareness though meditation and yoga nidra.

Additionally with practice, the nervous system can learn to manage stress through breathing techniques called pranayama.

Over a period of re-training in a yogic holistic practice, when challenges arrive in any environment, they begin to flow through rather than overwhelm us. As a result, we become more conscious; efficient, clear, balanced and compassionate rather than reactionary, numb, robotic or punitive.

At work and at home; in all aspects of our lives we become more productive, joyful, efficient and aligned as a result of being in yoga.” ~ Stacy Kamala Waltman, Meditation Master and Advanced Life Coach

There is so much abundance around; such beauty. I hope you are all getting outside and surrendering into life!

Many people misunderstand the concept of surrender. Surrender is not inaction or giving up or even accepting defeat or being codependent. Surrender is giving up our expectations of how things should be. When we expect or demand a certain result we are operating from a standpoint of control rather than deep surrender. Bargaining with the Divine is not surrender; “I’ll do this, God… if you do, that.” Surrender is making plans, utilizing our intelligence and capacities but not being attached to the fruits of those actions.

In one of my favorite books, the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna tells the warrior Arjuna that making plans, taking action, even painful action, is not only necessary it is the only way we fulfill our destiny (dharma). A more contemporary version of this theme is by baseball legend, Yogi Berra. He said, “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.”

We often get stuck in intellectualizing about how things “should be” rather than how things actually are. Clarity comes when we practice and apply what we know rather than theorizing.

Are you more comfortable imagining, conjecturing or instructing others rather than taking your own inspired action?

This week I invite you to take one specific action step each day. Then, give up your ideas of how things should turn out. Cultivate the art of noticing and being watchful. It is an enlivened and stress-free response to living life to its fullest.